About Me

I'm a gay, progressive, political blogger, born & bred in New York. I started blogging because I was really pissed off at what 8 years of Bush/Cheney did to my country. This is not the America I was brought up to believe in. It's going to take a generation to repair their damage. My intent with this blog is to aggregate news from a progressive viewpoint; not to defend my beliefs or debate conservathugs on the validity of their warped worldview. I don't mind posting contrary viewpoints, as long as they don't include conspiracy theories, flat out lies, GOP talking points or racist, xenophobic & homophobic attacks. Unfortunately, I haven't had many right-leaning visitors who have left comments that fit the bill. Oh, and I like to curse. (Email link available in my profile)

7.06.2009

When Bush declared that victory, some 176 Americans has already lost their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Another 4,145 have perished since then, validating now what was awkwardly apparent to all of those listening to the president then -- the premature jubilation about victory was nothing more than a refusal to acknowledge the current failure of the mission at hand.

Flash forward six years and there is Governor Sarah Palin, in a hastily called press conference, bizarrely and inexplicably quitting her post midway through her term.

Palin's resignation speech strikes the same themes as Bush's Mission Accomplished speech. Like Bush, Palin presented a litany of "accomplishments" that purportedly validated the disengagement of the moment. She similarly promised that the announcement meant entering a new phase in a larger battle (hers, ideological, and no doubt consisting of a parade of paid appearances and candidate fundraising).

I cannot count how many times Palin declared during her speech that that she was "unconventional," that her decision was untraditional, and that she was, well, any other "mavericky" synonym you can imagine. But in emphasizing--repeatedly--that she was not "built for 'politics as usual'", one could not help but feel as if the lady doth protest too much. Perhaps she learned from Bush that "you gotta catapult the propaganda." Whatever the reason, the fierce recasting of her failure as victory reeks of Bush-like hubris.

When Bush declared that victory, some 176 Americans has already lost their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Another 4,145 have perished since then, validating now what was awkwardly apparent to all of those listening to the president then -- the premature jubilation about victory was nothing more than a refusal to acknowledge the current failure of the mission at hand.

Flash forward six years and there is Governor Sarah Palin, in a hastily called press conference, bizarrely and inexplicably quitting her post midway through her term.

Palin's resignation speech strikes the same themes as Bush's Mission Accomplished speech. Like Bush, Palin presented a litany of "accomplishments" that purportedly validated the disengagement of the moment. She similarly promised that the announcement meant entering a new phase in a larger battle (hers, ideological, and no doubt consisting of a parade of paid appearances and candidate fundraising).

I cannot count how many times Palin declared during her speech that that she was "unconventional," that her decision was untraditional, and that she was, well, any other "mavericky" synonym you can imagine. But in emphasizing--repeatedly--that she was not "built for 'politics as usual'", one could not help but feel as if the lady doth protest too much. Perhaps she learned from Bush that "you gotta catapult the propaganda." Whatever the reason, the fierce recasting of her failure as victory reeks of Bush-like hubris.